Background information

Feature films

Technical information

Type

Features

Weapons

Pilots

The Mehve (also known as the Möwe) is a small and fast one-person powered glider that appears in the Studio Ghibli film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It is the personal flying craft of Nausicaa, a princess from the Valley of the Wind. A natural pilot, Nausicaa is exceptionally talented with the mehve and often uses the glider to explore the Sea of Corruption, a massive and lethally toxic fungal forest that covers most of the inland areas.

Contents

Description

The mehve's four meter long ohmu shell hull grants the craft incredible durability while being extremely lightweight. The glider is powered by one engine in the center of the craft and one thruster provides propulsion when activated with a foot lever on the dorsal side. The pilot hangs onto the top of the craft using a simple mount with a harness and controls the glider by shifting her own body. The mehve has no armament but does feature a load of non-lethal flash grenades dispensed from a port on the underside of the craft. The pilot is fully exposed while operating the mehve and can only fly as fast or as high as is possible for the pilot. Despite being meant for one person, the glider is capable of carry another passenger if necessary, though speed and control suffers greatly.

Trivia

In 2004, the Japanese-led OpenSky Aircraft Project began attempts to build a real-life, working personal jet glider based on the Mehve. Two full-size gliders with no power source carrying the code name M01 and M02, with a half-sized jet-powered remote controlled mock up called moewe 1/2 was built. A jet powered version was finally able to take off under its own power for the first time on September 3, 2013.

The designer and tester of the project refused the official endorsement of the project by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, noting that he did not want to cause trouble for them if an accident occurred.